And Eternity
by FallenPhoenix9
Summary: Just a little take on what could have happened between Cloud and Aeris is she hadn't died. Cleris. Reyu. Tifentine.
1. Camp

**C**.h.a.p.t.e.r.**1**:**C**.a.m.p.

"Cloud, wait! Please...Try to understa-wait! You can't understand can you Cloud?"

Before she even realized what she was saying, he turned to her.

"Aeris, why? Why do you have to go alone? What if Sephiroth finds you? What then? What if...he kills you, what do I do then Aeris?" Cloud's voice rose with every word until he was finally shouting at her. He stopped though, once he saw the two silver tears that had fallen from her eyes.

When he resumed, his voice was much lower, softer, filled with compassion, sorrow, and maybe- Aeris dared to dream- love. "I...I can't live without you Aeris. We'll go together! No! Wait! We'll just forget about the Ancients, and their Temple or city, or wherever it is you wanna go pray at and then we can-"

"-Cloud." She cut him off with that single word, spoken with a soft tone full of confidence and resolution. "You don't understand me at all, do you? You don't respect my decision! You don't respect my people. Moreover, you don't respect me Cloud. I know what I'm doing! I'm not a little girl, ok? Why can't you just let me go?"

" I can't Aeris. I just can't. I don't want to see you get hurt! And you're not making any sense! I can't lose you! I just can't!"

She started to walk away, towards the Temple of the Ancients. "I'm through with this." She said as she turned her back on the camp. Turned her back on her friends. Turned her back on Cloud.

Cloud grabbed her arm desperately.

"Let me go Cloud. If you care at all, don't do this to me! I've made my decision."

"Aeris I-"

"Save it Cloud. Let go of me."

"Aeris, I love you!" Even though he had finally said the words that he had been dying to say ever since their date at the Gold Saucer, the response he got was nothing like any of the ones he had expected.

"If you really loved me, you wouldn't be doing this to me. Let me go Cloud."

Her retort stung him as deeply as she had known it would. She hated to inflict pain that deep on him, but she knew it was necessary. The truth was, she didn't wanna cause Cloud any pain at all. She just wanted him to love her, and her to love him. But life wasn't that simple, and Aeris knew it. Cloud never seemed to treat her like the woman she was. He was always treating her like a little kid at the times when it really mattered. Like now. But she didn't dare look at him. Not at his eyes. His deep, piercing, glittering, perfect, sad, pained- no! She wasn't going to think about his eyes. If she thought about them too much, she would look at him...

Almost as if he read her mind, he said, "Look at me Aeris."

Her heart stopped beating. She knew, above all things, that she wanted nothing more than to look at his eyes. She also knew though that looking at his eyes would make her surrender, which she was not about to do.

When Cloud saw that she wasn't going to look at him, he spun her quickly, causing her to lose her balance and fall into him as he caught her. Then she made her fatal mistake-she saw his eyes. His amazingly perfect eyes.

She saw his pain, his confusion, and more importantly, his love. She saw herself being drawn inexorably to him. She tried to struggle, but her heart wasn't in it, however much her mind was.

Cloud, noticing her distress, smiled gently, and kissed her. At first, she clung to him in shock, not able to register what was happening between them. The closeness of his breath, the feeling of his lips on hers. Before she knew it, she was kissing him back with an intensity that would have surprised her had she not been so focused on Cloud.

After what seemed like an eternity, Cloud lifted her off of her feet, and held her bride-style, with her arms around his neck. She gasped as he broke off the kiss, and somehow managed to whisper hoarsely

"So then you really do love me."

Cloud just smiled. Aeris realized he did that a lot when he was with her.

"Aeris, I'll let you go now."

She wasn't sure if she had heard him right. She was still reliving the kiss.

"Goodbye Aeris. Just remember, I love you."

"Bye Cloud," she said distractedly.

As she walked slowly away, Cloud went over to wake up Tifa and Vincent, whom he had found made the best team out of the whole party, and strangely enough, found both of them awake, and not only that, but also talking to each other.

He brushed off his surprise as he quickly briefed them.

"Tif, Vincent, Aeris just went to the Temple. I tried to convince her not to go, but you know Aeris. She's so stubborn sometimes..Can you guys watch the camp for me while I'm gone? Make sure nothing happens, ok?"

"Yeah. We understand, right Vincent?" Tifa was pretty quick on the uptake.

"Of course."

But by the time they had answered him, he was already gone.

"Well, Vincent, we both saw what happened there."

"No, Tif, we are not going to go spy on them."

It was strange, how Vincent called her Tif. Nobody except Cloud had ever done that before, and that had started back when they were only 15...

However, it seemed so natural to her that he call her that that she took it in stride. She knew she had feelings for Vincent: he probably knew that too. She didn't know how strong they were, if they would ever come to anything or anything else like that. All she knew was that she just wanted someone who could heal her broken heart...

"C'mon Vincent! If we don't spy on them, then how are we gonna know what happens out there?"

"Yeah Vincent! If we spy on them, maybe we'll get to see them make out or something!"

"Yuffie, what are you doing out here?" Vincent asked.

"Well, considering that the two of them were so loud, it was kinda hard to fall asleep..."

"All right. Everyone who's up can come out to the Temple with Tif. I'll stay here."

"Oh, no you won't,"said Tifa taking him by the arm. "You're coming with me. I'm not gonna leave Vampire Boy out here with the tough men! And you're not gonna let 2 helpless damsels go off all alone are you?" she batted her eyelashes at him.

"Even though you aren't exactly helpless, you still are damsels, and I will have to come with you I guess. Good thing everyone else is awake already. Come on out guys."

Barret, Cid, Cait Sith, Red XII all came out from the men's tent. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that they had been listening ever since Aeris had left.

"All right guys! Let's go!" Even at 2 AM, Yuffie seemed extremely cheery.

"Thank you Vincent." Tifa quickly kissed him on the cheek, then looked away blushing. He didn't react for a minute, and Tifa was all but ready to run out after Yuffie and the others and avoid Vincent for the rest of her life.

However, eventually Vincent responded by slowly grabbing her hand and gently rubbing the top of it.

Tifa was speechless and could only look at her hand. With _his_ hand on top of it. With _their _hands together.

"Come on Tif. Let's go spy on Cloud and Aeris."

There it was again.

_Tif._

Vincent was surprised at himself for that sudden display of emotion. Grabbing her hand had been mostly reflex, but rubbing it hadn't been. He searched his thought to try and see why he was happy, but he couldn't concentrate because he kept thinking of Tifa.

Suddenly, it hit him.

He loved Tifa.

He looked down at the innocent young girl walking next to him, her small hand enveloped in his.

Vincent Valentinedreaded wielder of Cerberus, red-cloaked, disappearing who-knows-what who turned into various creatures when angered was in love.

And not only with a woman a regular human woman but a soft, brown-eyed, fist-fighting, _human woman._

And he knew he was in trouble.


	2. Temple

Here's Chapter 2. I originally had it as part of Chapter 1, but I changed it because of TinaK.Number1's review. Thanks!

**C**.h.a.p.t.e.r.**2**:**T**.e.m.p.l.e.

She was immersed in prayer and wonder, so she didn't see the traps. Her guardian did though, and set off any of them in her path before they could take her life. He was not going to let anything take her away from him now. Not when he was so close.

Finally, she saw one of the traps, a blade swinging idly. Since the body that was next to the blade must have been dead for at least a month, she knew that the blade could not still be swinging from that victim.

She was more cautious now, and took measures to avoid her could-be assailant, including taking side passages that her guardian hadn't noticed.

Eventually, she was so helplessly lost and confused that she sunk to the floor, surrounded by deathly traps, unable to escape.

Her guardian suddenly realized that she had collapsed, and ran back to her, risking that she would see some part of him.

She did.

She whirled around, her tiny concealed dagger at his throat. In the confusion, her torch went out, leaving the two of them in the darkness.

"Who are you and what are you doing here??" Aeris demanded angrily. "You have no right to be trespassing on this sacred ground!"

Suddenly, the man kissed her cheek.

"Cloud...?"

She remembered a simple light spell she had learned years ago and cast it.

She saw the man's face.

It wasn't Cloud.

It was Sephiroth.

"Hello Aeris," he said with an evil, yet oddly charming grin. "I was just testing something. Good-bye!"

And she was alone again.

In the dark.

In a deserted city.

She would have screamed if she had had the energy, but as it was, she didn't, so she blacked out instead.

She awoke to Cloud shaking her. "Aeris! Wake up!"

"Cloud...?" Than she realized something he had said. "Sephiroth...Was he...a dream?...or not?"

"Sephiroth!?!? Aeris, what happened?" Cloud demanded worriedly."You saw Sephiroth? He could have killed you Aeris!! What stopped him fro-"

-he kissed me." Aeris hated to tell him that, but deep inside, she was kind of reassured that his reaction was what it was.

"He...kissed you? Sephiroth kissed the woman I love? Sephiroth, you will pay for this!!"

"Aeris, there is another reason I followed you out here, other than that of Sephiroth and not wanting you to die and all."

He picked her up and carried her over to the top of a staircase. He walked down a few stairs, and bent down on his right knee.

"Aeris, I...I love you. I know that more than any other thing I have ever known before. I want nothing more than for you to marry me. So Aeris... will you marry me?"

Aeris was stunned. Only a few hours ago, they had shared their first kiss, and now they were getting married. She started thinking ahead to the dress, the cake, the bridesmaids, the groom, the honeymoon, when suddenly, Cloud said, "Ummm...Aeris? Are you going to answer or can I just assume that it's a no?"

She was startled and looked up, realizing she had forgotten to even say yes. "Cloud, of course I'll marry you. I would never even think otherwise!"

Cloud smiled, and leaned in to kiss her, but she put a finger on his lips.

"I do have one condition though"

Cloud's face fell. "What would that be??"

"Rebuild my Church. Once my Church is rebuilt, then I will marry you. Is that all right?"

"Of course Aeris. Of course."

"You all will help too right? Barret, Vincent, Tifa, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Red XIII?"

They reluctantly stepped into the light. "How did you know we were here Aeris?"

"I knew as soon as I left that Cloud would follow me here, and then I figured Yuffie would want to come too, so Tifa, being obligated to watch Yuffie would have to come, so Vincent of course would come too, meaning everyone else would come. I just didn't think you'd all get here so quick. That's why Sephiroth surprised me so much. I'll explain about him later" She said as she saw Tifa's eyebrows arch and Red's fur bristle.

"As for right now, we've got a Church to build!"


	3. Bar

**C**.h.a.p.t.e.r.**3**:**B**.a.r.

"Aeris, I can't believe you actually wanna _fix _this place."

"I know Squall. Can you help?"

"Well, I am a carpenter…." Squall grinned at her, waiting for her to complete his sentence.

"…the best this side of Esthar. I know Squall. So, will you help? Please? You are my brother…"

"Will you do it for your little sister? Please Squall…"

"I'll see what I can do. This place is pretty beat up…Oh, and Aeris, I will need help."

"Don't worry. My friends are coming." Before he even opened his mouth, she added, "Yes, the big guy with the arm will be there too."

At that, Squall had to grin. He actually wasn't her brother, and had only taken her in when he found her on the streets, a ten-year-old girl living in the middle of an old abandoned church. This church. It had taken him hours to convince her to come with him and live in his house. It had always been obvious that they weren't attracted romantically at all, despite his only being 2 years older than she was. She remembered her first date with Zack when Squall had-

Zack. She hadn't wanted to remember him, especially now that she knew he was dead. S

Aeris cut off the memories quickly. She didn't want to think about _him_. Not now. Not when she was about to marry his old best friend. She felt the tears coming and left before Squall could see her tears. He was a sensitive guy at times, but he was still a guy. Aeris knew that she needed to talk to a girl about this one, and she knew exactly which girl she needed to see.

She remembered when Zack told her that he was leaving to join SOLDIER. At first, she hadn't believed it. She had then felt angry, shocked, sad, a whole jumble of emotions all swirling together until she didn't even know up from down anymore. But above all that, she had felt fear. It was one of the only things that she could have felt at a time like that. Fear. Fear that he would get another girlfriend. Fear that he'd forget her. Fear that he would die. And then she had met Cloud, who had made everything go away. But, of course, there was a tie between him and her old boyfriend: they were best friends.

She hadn't wanted to even dare to ask it. But she did anyway. And then he had told her the truth: her worst fear had come true. Zack was dead. She had cried into Cloud's shoulder then, while he awkwardly stroked her hair as she thought about all of her memories with Zack. After she knew Zack was dead, she had somehow found the strength to carry on and fall in love with Cloud. But now she wasn't so sure about her feelings. The sooner she talked to Tifa, the better.

When she arrived at Tifa's 7th Heaven, Tifa took one look at her tear-stained face, her muddied dress, and knew that she had come to talk. She put Yuffie in charge, rattled off a few orders to her, and left.

Leaving Yuffie standing all alone in the kitchen. Looking terrified.

Of course, a bad situation always gets worse. Reno of the Turks. The hot, funny, easygoing, egoistical, Turk Yuffie had always had a distant crush on. VERY distant.

Reno took one look around, saw a crowded bar, didn't see Tifa (who usually ran things with an iron fist) and saw a confused-looking fragile Asian girl standing right behind the counter. And he knew she was overboard.

And sinking fast.

He walked over to the bar in his slow confident gait, and stopped, leaned on the counter and looked directly into her eyes.

"Hello Miss. You seem like you need some help. I used to work in a bar kinda like this one." He grinned his most disarming grin as he watched Yuffie try to stutter out a few words. However, she quickly composed herself and got over the thought of "Oh my God, Reno of the Turks is standing right in front of me practically 6 inches away from me. He smells amazing…Oh wow….He doesn't even have bad breath!" and said,

"All right, you go on out there and take orders. I'll stay in here, make the drinks, and let the cook cook the food and stuff. Denzel and Marlene can do the dishes. They are just sitting around anyways. Well, what are you doing just standing there? Get to work!"

Reno was still shocked at this girl's response and was just staring blankly at her. However, he realized that if he didn't move, maybe she was gonna make him wash the dishes so he got out to work.

"Oh, and Reno…" she said, sticking her head out the kitchen door.

He winced. "Thank you."

He straightened back up, tried to throw off his surprise (with no success), and answered her with a typical Reno line. "Yeah. Sure. No problem babe."

(Yufffie's POV: Omg. Did he just call me babe?)

"What's your name?"

"Yuffie." And with that, she was gone.

"All right Aeris. You better start from the beginning."

Aeris told her about the Church, Squall, Cloud, and….Zack. Tifa looked up in surprise.

"Well, Aeris, it's obvious what you're feeling." Aeris looked up hopefully.

"Really?" She dared to believe that she still loved Cloud.

"You still love Zack, right? There's nothing wrong with that. You're just remembering your first love. Cloud'll understand. I mean, I was his first love, and he did love me and I did love him, and we're both always gonna remember that, but that doesn't mean that we haven't moved on."

"Tifa?" Tifa noticed the change in her best friend's voice and hoped it was for the better.

"If you've moved on, then who have you moved on to? I know you love someone. I can tell by the way that you go around humming all the time…"

Tifa took a deep breath. "Vincent."

Aeris screamed and hugged her friend. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you Aeris. I'm not sure if he knows yet or not, and I want to tell him when I'm ready."

"I understand Tifa. I understand completely."


	4. Church

**C**.h.a.p.t.e.r.**4**:**C**.h.u.r.c.h.

"Who are you?" Squall demanded angrily, drawing his gunblade.

"I'm-" the stranger started to say.

"Why are you here?" Squall cut him off.

"-what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm-"

He was interrupted by the sound of the door of the church opening.

"Squall? Cloud? What's going on here?" Aeris asked. She had been so preoccupied that morning that she had completely forgotten to tell Squall that Cloud was coming-and what he looked like.

"Never mind. Squall, this is Cloud, my fiancé."

"The name's Leon. I left Squall behind years ago."

"Squall, just shut the Hell up!" Aeris never swore. "Rinoa is your first love right? That means that she loves you, right? As long as you have her love, you should be happy! But you're not! All you can think about are your failures. I don't think she would be very happy with you if she knew that you changed your name

Anyways, you know that she would gladly marry you if you only proposed. Get over your fear and just listen to your heart!"

Leon was speechless.

So was Cloud, for a minute. "I take it you talked to Tifa, huh?"

Aeris grinned sheepishly. "Yeah I did, and I feel better now too. So we gonna start building or what?"

Just then, a huge man with a metal arm came walking in.

"Barret! I'm so glad you came!"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. How's Marlene doing? Have you seen her lately?"

"I just saw her this morning, and she's fine. She's excited that you're home today."

"All right, let's get this done with so that I can go see her! You go on and help Leon and Cloud with the ground renovations. We'll tackle the walls."

"We?" Vincent, Red, Cait Sith, and Cid had walked in after him.

"Yes, we. Vincent fly (or whatever the Hell it is that you do) up there and take Sith with you. The two of you are gonna-"

Aeris walked off to go rejoin her brother and Cloud. They were, oddly enough, struggling to lift a pew. Aeris simply used a float spell on it and helped them to guide it along. Once the three of them had it in its place, she set it down with a gravity spell. And found herself staring right at Cloud. Noticing the surprise on her face, Cloud grinned and leaned across the pew to kiss her. Conveniently enough, Squall came in just then with a job for Cloud. Aeris rolled her eyes at his back, but still moved on to the next pew.

Later in the day, Reno showed up drenched in sweat. He had been working in the bar since that morning, and it showed.

"I offered to help Yuffie, so now I'm a delivery boy." He held out his basket of sandwiches. "She made these, so beware…ow!" Yuffie had followed him in.

"They're actually pretty good..." he said quickly, trying to redeem himself.

It worked. Yuffie gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Good boy."

Tifa came in next. She noticed Vincent alone in the corner and went over by him.

"Hi Vincent," she said shyly. "I brought you an iced coffee. I figured you'd be hot after working all day in that cape." Not that he needed an excuse to be hot since he always was…

"Thanks Tif. I really needed that." He said looking directly into her eyes. He had this way of staring that always seemed eerie, yet also kind of manly at the same time. Tifa didn't really know how to describe it.

Tifa steeled herself. "And I needed this."

She kissed him, expecting him to either pull away, or to refuse to kiss her back. But to her surprise, he kissed her back. As their lips gently pressed together, Tifa though that she'd died and gone to Heaven. The way he tasted…the way he kissed…It all seemed Divine. Course, Vincent was kinda divine or something. Nobody really knew what was up with him, but Tifa was determined to find out.

As he gently broke the kiss, Tifa looked at him in apprehension. Even though he had kissed back, it might have been out of pity…But his smile reassured her, and she hungrily pulled him in to her for another kiss, this time much deeper and much more fierce. She knew they were acting like a couple of teenagers, but she didn't care, as long as Vincent was with her.

After what seemed like an eternity, they broke away. Tifa nestled into his shoulder. She whispered fiercely, "I love you," in his ear. Vincent looked down at her and kissed her forehead.

"I know Tifa. I love you too." Tifa felt her heart soaring. She saw Aeris across the church, who luckily was the only one to notice what had happened in the corner. Aeris winked at her. Tifa knew she was lucky to have friends like her, and to have a man like Vincent around.

The Church was completed 2 weeks later.

Cloud and Aeris were to be married in 2 months….as long as nothing catastrophic happened…


	5. Bedroom

Thanks to Catie-Cat and Beeria for reviewing. I really appreciate it!

Catie-cat brought to my attention that the actual placement of these events in the FFVII timeline wasn't really clear, so I'll try and explain it here: Camp and Temple take place during the game when you go to the Temple of the Ancients. Bar and Church take place after the end of the game, but before Advent Children. I'm currently debating if I should put in events from Advent Children. I will only if it fits the story, like Kadaj. He fits my story, so he's here. Stuff like Geostigma might make it in, but only if I really see a need for it to be there. Hope ya guys like it! If you read, pleas review, even if it's only a sentence or two. If you do, I promise to post up your name as one of my reviewers!

Isn't that incentive enough?

**C**.h.a.p.t.e.r.**5**:**B**.e.d.r.o.o.m.

Aeris paced nervously through her bedroom. It was an old room, and even though Squall had tried to fix it up a little bit, it was still an old room. The pink walls didn't make it seem any newer or mature. Squall had kinda gone overboard on the pink Her bed had a pink bedspread, the curtains were pink, the carpet was pink.. True, it was her favorite color, especially all those years ago, but she had outgrown it. None of that mattered now though. She shook her head to clear her head of the unimportant memories, and to think of what really mattered.

Though she was certain that she wasn't making a mistake, she was still biting her nails. She thought the anxiety would kill her, but she didn't even know why she was anxious.

"Why am I so nervous?" she screamed out. "I have no reason to be nervous. I love Cloud, and he loves me. We're getting married in a few hours. So why am I so fucking nervous? Something doesn't feel right. What is it though? If it's that Cloud decided not to marry me-" she threw herself on her bed and squeezed a cat stuffed animal (also pink) that she had had since before she could remember.

"-then you'd die. Of course, you're going to die pretty soon anyway. So I suppose it doesn't really matter…"

"Who's there? What are you doing in my room? Get out of here!" Aeris demanded.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" the man started laughing maniacally.

"Wait a minute. I know that laugh. Sephiroth!"

"I guess you're wondering why I'm here. Well, I need a wife for my son and you're the only one who'll do. I see you're confused. I'll try and explain it so that your pretty little head can wrap around it. I seduced a woman to become my lover about 10 years ago. It was pretty easy, considering my fame at the time. She bore me 3 sons: Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo. As soon as she had given me them, I killed her. Or rather, Kadaj did." Aeris was staring up at him with horror from her position on her bed. Unconsciously, she hugged her cat closer to herself.

"Because of this, he is the one with the most promise, even though when he found out what he'd done, he nearly killed himself. Couldn't have that now, could we?" again with the laughter. "He is a sniveling fool at times, but he is the eldest, and should be given the woman first. I had to genetically alter their ages though so that you would be marrying a fully grown man, not a 10 year old boy, so he's a few years younger than you; bout 19 I'd say. Anyways, I need you to marry him because if my son marries an Ancient and has a child by her, I can kill the child, and then I will have ultimate power."

"How is that possible?" Aeris gasped out. She was having some trouble understanding all of this. She was still trying to get over the fact the Sephiroth had _kids_. And that he wanted to kill his grandchild.

"I have the Ash Materia that the Ancients used to use. It quelled minor wars and pollution issues: basically anything that could harm the Planet. Of course, it gave them much more power than they could ever know, and now I have the materia. I know what it can do, and I know how to do it too. I just need your cooperation in this. If I don't get it, then your friends and Cloud will just die."

Aeris knew what she had to do. "Sephiroth, I'll do it. As long as you give me 10 minutes or so to prepare."

"No, Aeris, I'm not an idiot. You're not going to kill yourself. If you do, Cloud and Tifa and Yuffie will just die too." Sephiroth knew how to force someone into something. If Tifa died, not only would she be dead, but Vincent would be devastated by losing the second woman he ever loved, the first being Lucrecia. If Yuffie died, Reno would become un-Reno-like. If Cloud died…Aeris didn't even want to think about what would happen to her…

"All right Sephiroth. Let me stay here for an hour, and then I'll come with you."

"Fine. Remember, if anything goes wrong here though, they will die…"

"I know Sephiroth. I understand,"

There was only one thing she could do to make everything work out all right, and for that she needed help. She'd have to move quickly. She muttered a quick prayer to her mother for protection, and then started thinking through her options.

"I hope you do Aeris. For their sake…"

And with that, he was gone.

Well, that chapter's on the short side. The whole Ancient-killing plot line is kinda weird…unfortunately, the whole thing kind of centers on it. Including the sequel. And the end's kinda cheesy…I mean, really. What are the chances of Sephiroth letting her go spend an hour with her friends? Is this a sign that the Fallen Angel actually cares about someone? Hmm…I haven't decided yet…All I know is, that this will NOT become an Aeriseph fanfiction. NOTHING would make me do that to poor Aeris.

Well, hope ya guys enjoyed it so far. I plan to have a chapter or two up every day, and after I reach a certain point in this fic, I'm gonna end it and just do a sequel. But it will be set in the world of Kingdom Hearts, not Final Fantasy VII. It will have some of the same characters from in this one, but it may introduce new ones too… If it sounds cryptic, good. If it sounds stupid, feel free to flame me! I will welcome and accept your criticisms, complaints, etc.

Thanks for listening to me ramble!

Enjoy my fic!

FallenPhoenix9


	6. Apartment

Thanks to **Beeria** for reviewing (a second time, no less!). I should warn you, this chapter is kinda…crazy. By that I mean that I just kinda put things in there so that they'd happen and get over with. You'll see what I mean. This is personally probably my least favorite chapter I've written so far. Oh well!

If you review, you get your name in bold at the top of the screen (an added incentive!! Oooo, you know I'm serious when I bold things! XD)

Hope ya guys enjoy it!

**C**.h.a.p.t.e.r.**6**:**A**.p.a.r.t.m.e.n.t.

Cloud was nervous. He had never been nervous before in his life. And now he was nervous just thinking about saying two little words. He paced his apartment, frantically practicing saying "I do" over and over again in a mantra. The entire apartment was black. The carpets, the walls, the bedspread were all black. He had done it in his teenage years, and had regretted it ever since he stopped being a rebel. Luckily for him, the owner of the building had been drunk the only time he had been in there since the painting.

Unbeknownst to Cloud, Vincent and Reno came walking in the apartment. Vincent had a key because he lived there too. He hadn't really said anything when Cloud had painted it. He kinda liked it actually…

"I do. I do. I do. I do. I do."

Vincent and Reno exchanged a glance.

"I saw this on a reality tv show once." Reno whispered softly to Vincent. Cloud, oblivious, didn't hear anything. "The poor guy was so upset that when he went up to the altar with the girl, all he could say was "we two." It kinda embarrassed her, and she divorced him a week later. Shows how real reality tv is."

Vincent didn't even look at him. He cleared his throat.

"Cloud," Vincent said calmly, breaking the mantra. Cloud stared at him. " You will be fine. Aeris will be fine. Everything will be fine. Here's what'll happen: you'll go up to the altar, stare at her, get lost in her, say 'I do' not knowing what the Hell you're doing, and then kiss her and leave. That's all."

Cloud just stared blankly.

"Vincent's right." Reno had to chime in. "You'll do fine. Trust me man."

Cloud stared at him blankly too.

Suddenly, Tifa burst in. She was out of breath, and obviously in a hurry.

"Tifa? This is time for guy talk," Reno said amusedly. "You don't wanna join in."

"No time…Cloud!" she said, seeing Cloud. He stared blankly at her. "Aeris…Sephiroth….Kadaj….marry…kill…plan!"

Cloud had no idea what she was saying. Thankfully, Vincent got what she was saying.

"Sephiroth and some guy named Kadaj want to marry Aeris and kill her, but Aeris has a plan to stop them?"

Tifa looked up at him gratefully. This, above all, was proof that she loved him. She kissed him on the cheek.

"He's got it."

Cloud snapped out of it at the mention of Aeris being killed. "All right, what's my girl's plan?"

Tifa had the answers: Cloud was to go and marry Aeris. Cloud raised his eyebrows at her, but she just kept talking. Reno and Yuffie would be best man and bridesmaid for the wedding. Reno groaned at the thought of wearing a tux. And she and Vincent would prepare the escape.

Cloud raised his hand skeptically.

"What Cloud?" Tifa snapped irritably.

"3 things: #1: we're gonna get married but she's gonna die? #2: Reno's gonna suck at being a best man." Reno glared at him. "And #3, if we escape, won't he just target you guys and kill you?"

Tifa looked at him like he was an idiot, which is pretty much how he felt. She sighed.

"Lemme make this easy for you: #1 Would you rather marry her now, or wait for an indefinite amount of time? #2 Reno will do fine. Yuffie will love the tux." Reno grinned at her. Cloud glared at him. "#3 Yep. That's why we're coming with you." Cloud groaned. The last thing he wanted on his wedding night was all of his friends around him and his bride.

"What? You can't come with us."

"I'm afraid we have no choice. Midgar isn't safe anymore. Sephiroth knows it too well. He could easily find us if we tried to hide anywhere where he has been and knows very well, which rules out Nibelheim. We have to try either up north, in the Icicle Inn area, or we have to leave the Planet entirely, which I'm pretty sure Aeris wouldn't wanna do. Ancients are kinda tied to the Planet."

Vincent cleared his throat. "Ah, Tifa? If Cloud would have to wait an indefinite number of months to marry his girl, would that apply to me and my girl too?"

Tifa stopped breathing.

"I mean, I know I don't wanna wait that long. I'm not waiting. Long as she agrees of course," he got down on one knee.

Tifa's heart skipped a beat.

"Will you marry me?"

Tifa stared at him with tears in her eyes. Suddenly, she threw her arms around his neck. "Oh Vincent! Oh Vincent…" was all she could say.

"I take it that's a yes?" he asked her.

She nodded mutely as he kissed her deeply and passionately, but they broke off the kiss because they knew they had to leave. They had less than an hour to get out of Midgar. And far **_far_** away from it.

Reno looked uncomfortable. "Look, guys, if that whole thing applies to Cloud here and to Vincent, then it must apply to me and Yuf, right? I don't wanna wait that long to marry her. She's just so wonder-ah!" he was cut off by a shrill cry from a young Asian girl who threw her arms around his neck and kissed him fiercely.

"Oh my God! Reno wants to marry me!" she screamed in sheer delight.

"You got it babe," he managed to grin, even though he was being suffocated. She released her hold on his neck, and placed her hands on his chest instead. She looked up at him with shining eyes.

"Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!" she shrieked. Reno smiled as he gently kissed her.

Now it was Tifa's turn to look uncomfortable. Cloud was standing over at the window looking out over Midgar- quite possibly, his last view of the huge city, bustling with people and pollution. He knew that it must be especially hard on Tifa to have to leave Tifa's 7th Heaven.

Aeris watched Cloud with Vincent by her side. She knew what he was thinking, about his last view of Midgar. Naturally, she was worried about the other members of the old gang, but luckily, Aeris had called all of them and told them not to come to Midgar, that Sephiroth was after her, and that Reno, Yuffie, Cloud, Vincent, and Tifa were running away with her.

She looked at her fiancé. "Vincent, we have a lot of work to do. We need to figure out what we're going to do tonight."

He looked her up and down, and smiled at what he saw. Tifa would have slapped him had she not been secretly glad that he liked what he saw.

"Not that!" she still managed to snap at him playfully. "There'll be plenty of time for that later. Right now, we have to decide where we're going to go."

Then she addressed the rest of the people in the room, "Yuffie and Reno, you guys go get ready for your wedding. Help Cloud and Aeris too. Me and Vincent will go and get what we need for the escape. We'll be back in half an hour for our wedding."

Yuffie and Reno walked out the door, Yuffie's head full of thought about her wedding.

Tifa and Vincent left next, after Tifa concernedly touched Cloud's shoulder. "It'll be all right Cloud. You'll see."

Cloud looked out the window. "Aeris, I hope that you are safe. Otherwise, Sephiroth is going to pay…"

Strangely enough, Cloud wasn't nervous about his wedding anymore. He had transferred his anxiety to Vincent and Reno. The only thing the two of them could think as they left the black apartment was, "I do."

OK, lame ending, I know. But I just had to throw it in there somehow.


	7. Altar

**n**.o.t.e.**f**.r.o.m.**F.**a.l.l.e.n.**P**.h.o.e.n.i.x.**9**:

OK, thanks to **Zaz9-zaa0** for the review, name bolded as promised! Lol. OK guys, I know that this chapter took me a while to get up, but I haven't had much time to work on it. Please forgive me. Anyways, this chapter is pretty much only the weddings. I couldn't really fit anything else into this chapter. I think there's only gonna be a couple more chapters until the sequel. Details on that will come soon, maybe in the last chapter or two.

Hope ya like it! Thanks for reading!

And yes, I blatantly stole the note thing at the top from someone. I can't remember who it was, so if it was you, feel free to force me to give credit!

**C**.h.a.p.t.e.r.**7**:**A**.l.t.a.r

"I now pronounce you man and wife: Cloud and Aeris Strife, Vincent and Tifa Valentine, and Reno and Yuffie –Wait, what _is_ your last name Reno?"

Reno was a little bit preoccupied with losing himself in Yuffie's eyes, so he didn't hear the Holy Man. It was kind of a shock for him to even be at the altar, since he was Reno, and wasn't the kind of guy you'd expect to settle down and get married.

Yuffie was a little bit more capable at the moment, but she knew that Reno didn't have a last name, at least, not one he shared with anybody, even her. She thought quickly and without any help from Reno, said, "Turk."

"And Reno and Yuffie Turk." The Holy Man looked confused for a minute, but managed to shake it off, saying, "You may kiss your brides."

Cloud turned to Aeris, and was greeted by a warm smile and a flushed face. As he gently kissed her, he could almost forget that in a matter of minutes they were going to be on the run from a crazed psychopath who wanted nothing more than to have his son marry his bride, make her pregnant, then kill the child, her, and his son. He could almost pretend that the rest of his life, it would be only him and Aeris, together forever. He could almost convince himself that this moment would last forever.

Almost.

He knew that the rest of their lives would be changed, and not because of the wedding. Any children they might have would have to be given away, because there was no way that they could have a baby with them on the run. Any normalcy that their lives could possibly possess was gone now because of Sephiroth.

But for right now, he only thought of Aeris, his new bride.

Vincent was bored. The Holy Man, even though he was hurrying the sacred ritual that was used for weddings, he was still taking too long. He allowed his mind to wander for the time being. He had no such qualms about the future. Yes, he knew they were coming. He knew it with the certainty that only he could have. Certainty that he had because he was, well, different. That was the way it had been said to him as a child. The reason that he had fiery eyes, the reason that his skin was pale, and could never be tan, the reason that he wore that cape. It was all because he was different.

After he had become a teenager, he had grown resentful of all of the differences he had from other kids. At first, he had demanded that he be told _why_ he was different. Then he had realized that no one really knew why. At least, none of the idiots he was forced to deal with did. He had continued on various quests, searching for answers to a million different questions. And then he had found Lucrecia.

Lucrecia had made his whole life worth living. She had understood his search, and had helped him to forward it as best she could, even though she had introduced him to Chaos. He had loved her, and had still been moody, but less so around her, kind of like he was around Tifa.

Vincent shook the memories. He suddenly became aware of a voice saying, "You may now kiss your brides."

Vincent looked at Tifa, who was still looking ahead, apparently lost in her own thoughts. How small she looked in that dress! How pale, fragile, _young_. Then she turned to him, realizing the silence in the Church. He saw her eyes, red balls of fire they seemed to him. Tifa's figure didn't fully describe her. Oh, it was soft and beautiful, which Tifa definitely was inside, but it was in her eyes that she made her personality known to the world. She smiled at him, and leaned up towards him. He bent down over her, and pressed his lips to hers.

Tifa nearly fell over from the intensity of Vincent's kiss. If she still could have any doubt that he loved her as much as he had loved Lucrecia, if not more, it vanished instantly upon their contact.

After he had discovered that Lucrecia was the mother of Sephiroth, Vincent had at first refused to believe it. He knew that it pained her to know that her son was evil, so he told her that he was dead so that she would rest easy.

His entire search for answers had seemed pointless. He had found no answers, only suffering. He had been with Cloud's party at that time, and had nearly left them, but had decided against it, mostly because of his growing relationship with Tifa, but also because since Cloud was searching for Sephiroth, he might find the answers to his questions.

Reno looked at Yuffie. She really was beautiful, and probably the only woman he would ever want to love, especially since her love of adventure and a laid-back lifestyle reflected his own. If marriage had meant that he had to settle down, he would never have done it. But in this case, it was different. Yuffie was perfect for him.

Reno and Yuffie weren't concerned about what was to come. They were merely focused on each other, and nothing else.

**E**.n.d.**N**.o.t.e.

Well, that chapter was pretty short and pointless. Oh well! Least the weddings covered pretty good. The next chapter will be more informative…I promise….

Thanks for reading! Please review!


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